At this point, you should think where,
if anywhere that item fits into your new home. If you don't
want it, get rid of it. Throw it away, give it away, sell
it or recycle it, but don't pack it if you don't want it.
The two biggest clichés in the
removals business are, "Moving home is very stressful…",
(so obvious, you may as well say "water is wet")
and "I still haven't unpacked everything from last
time I moved." If you've left something boxed, in the
back of the garage or under the stairs, for two years, the
chances are you don't need it.
The final consideration when de-cluttering
is the removal costs. Your removal company will base their
price on how much they're moving, (among other things).
So why pay someone to move things you don't need?
Box Sizes
The most environmentally friendly, (and
cheapest) boxes are recycled boxes. Be careful though, as
not all boxes are suitable for packing up your goods. Boxes
should always be sealed, so open top boxes are a definite
negative. Bigger isn't always better. Overloaded boxes are
prone to collapsing when stacked, or falling apart when
lifted.
Most removals companies will supply packing
materials and many will supply second-hand boxes. If you
have a lot of books, ask about book boxes. They're sturdy
and smaller than standard packing boxes, so they can't be
overloaded.
Wardrobe boxes or garment carriers are
usually supplied on the day of your move, so your clothes
don't need to be taken off their hangers and crumpled into
boxes. They're simply lifted off the rail in the wardrobe,
put on the rail in the garment carrier, enclosed for protection
and transported safely, with no creasing. You will have
to transfer your clothes into the wardrobes at the other
though, unless you wish to purchase and keep the garment
carriers.
Soft, light goods, such as duvets, pillows
and cushions can be put into bags. This is cheaper and easier
to pack. Your removals men won't mind, as the soft bags
help to fill gaps when loading the van.
Packing Fragiles
Rule number one for packing fragiles is
Don't rush!
Your packing paper is not wrapping paper,
so it should always be crumpled. The idea is for it to absorb
impact and fill voids.
Start by lining the bottom of the box
with crumpled paper. Wrap each item separately, making sure
there is adequate padding between items. For stemmed glasses,
crumple a "snake" of paper and wind it around
the stem, before wrapping the whole thing.
If any two wrapped items make a sound,
when gently tapped together, they're not protected enough.
Plates are less likely to break if the
impact is on the edge, so wrap them and stack them vertically,
not horizontally. Be very careful not to make the boxes
too heavy.
Larger fragile items should be bubble-wrapped
before boxing or, if they're too big to go into a box, just
bubble-wrapped. Pictures and mirrors will be safer if you
cover the front with a sheet of cardboard before bubble-wrapping.
Labelling
Each box should be labelled with, at the
very least, the room it came from and the room it's going
to. This will save a lot of time during the removal and
a lot of time when unpacking.
At your new home, put labels on
the tops of the doorframes for each room. If the label on
the box says, "John's room" the removals men won't
know which room the box should go to, unless you tell them
which room is John's.
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